Chapter 2: Enter Miyuki
Slender tan finders adjusted the bright white cap on tussled chocolate brown locks. After giving himself a once over in the mirror, Sawamura proceeded to leave Seidou High school's bathroom. His mind mulled over the last thirty minutes since he arrived in Tokyo.
When he first arrived at Seidou High School, it was impossible to miss the enormous baseball field full of male adolescents training. The stench of sweat, body odor, and grass became more abundant as he stepped closer to the sports grounds. His "recruiter" Takashima Rei was another surprise altogether. Imagine meeting the same person who injected you as a greeting ten years later at the airport. The brunette looked mostly the same, then only difference was that her bangs were out and she wore a lighter shade of lipstick. She didn't start talking to him until they were halfway their destination, Seidou High school.
"I see the Academy has trained you well," she said subtly glancing at the young agent.
"What d'ya mean Miss?" Eijun answered, tilting his head to the side feigning innocence.
"Ha, very cute agent podsolnechnik but tone it down on the country boy bit. Remember you are from Nagano, not the boonies," she retorted, as her smirk slid into a smile.
After a brief moment of silence the brunette cleared her throat and continued in an authoritative manner.
"I don't know how much HQ has informed you about this assignment but you are to check in with me for information and a weekly update about certain players. The player's information will be given to you soon, just make sure you are close to the first-string catcher Miyuki Kazuya," she said slowly waiting for Sawamura to fill in the blanks.
"So I am going to be playing the part of a pitcher-," Eijun started to say before he was interrupted by Rei.
"A southpaw to be exact," she strained as her fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
Eijun decided to take the safe route and not inquire why she seemed so upset about it. If he took anything away from experience working in the field, it was that older agents always had a story that they weren't willing to tell unless it pertained to helping in the mission. The stories usually always had blood, death and a missing limb at the end with a bit of humor. To the young agent, Rei was just another rubix cube that he wasn't willing to solve, unless it was an order from HQ.
After licking his lips he started again.
"So I am going to be a left-handed pitcher at Seidou, keeping my eyes on certain players, especially the catcher Miyuki Kazuya under the cover as a normal teenager with a bigger than life smile, and in all of this, I am supposed to go to Koshien without blowing my cover," the young agent finished staring directly at his recruiter.
Rei just nodded her head, her hands slowly regained a soft firm grip on the steering wheel.
"When we leave the school at the end of the day, I expect you to leave a lasting impression on the catcher. Think of this as your first assignment here," she retorted, her eyes never leaving the road.
Seidou High School, Baseball ground
Tokyo, Japan
Time 3: 54 p.m.
Agent: Podsolnechnik (Eijun Sawamura)
Target: Miyuki Kazuya
Pretending to be an idiot was easy. Just flashing a wide grin, looking lost and speaking with a volume somewhat close to a yell, aided him plenty of times in his line of work as an agent ; stealing millions of dollars, priceless jewels, painting and even in assisting kidnapping a president. Using it on teen boys, was amusing at best.
After calling out the teen Azuma who had an ego bigger than his body fat, he rapidly caught attention from everyone on the felid. Drawing out the catcher was only a matter of time. Drawing in a big breath, he then went on a mild rant about the importance of playing baseball as a team and how it seems even Seidou, a school known for their rigorous baseball program, has forgotten about that. When the teenager with sports glasses perked his head up towards the end of Sawamura's speech, the young agent knew the fish had fell for the bait.
What he didn't expect was Rei chiming in about "this being the first time out alone" and "him missing his friends." His recruiter was not slick, Sawamura knew exactly what she wanted. "The Academy has trained you well," she said. Even Eijun knew how to read between the lines. Training at the Academy did not mean anything unless he could actively apply it in the field. To the young agent this was Rei putting him up on stage, wanting to see first-hand how exactly he would fit into this environment, based on his Academy training.
The brunet agent glanced Azuma, not surprised to see that at Rei's comment brought an arrogant gleam into his opponent's eye. After larger than life had finished calling him a baby, he then proclaimed that they would play a batting game. Immediately everyone broke out in cold across the sports ground.
"Wait a second," Sawamura sputtered, "I-I'm not one of these guys! I'm just here to repay a favor!"
Rei slightly smirked and kindly told him that "he should put his money where his mouth was".
Eijun could not figure out whether disliked him or enjoined putting him on the spot to tease him.
A snicker from the fence broke the tension.
"Hehe, isn't this interesting," cut in the brunet with sports glasses, "Rei-chan, is it okay if I catch for this guy?"
Ms. Takashima played the part of looking shocked well, but Eijun could see her eyes gleam, this plan was coming together just like she wanted it to. Azuma's jaw fell open.
"Hey Miyuki, first years should stay where they belong," he spat as his face was sweltering like a red balloon.
After a half-hearted quipped apology, the catcher proceeded to banter with his sempai.
Before Sawamura could put in two cents Rei had two random players issue him work-out clothes and usher him to the nearest bathroom.
Seidou High School Baseball Field B
Tokyo, Japan
Time: 4:05 p.m.
Agent: Podsolnechnik (Eijun Sawamura)
Target: Miyuki Kazuya
Gleaning his thoughts, he pulled himself back into the present. Right now his objective was to make sure that Miyuki would be interested in him. Deciding to ditch the cap, the brunet teenager placed it on the dugout bench before he climbed the stairs leading onto Seidou Baseball Field B.
The young agent scanned the grounds and wasn't surprised to see his recruiter talking to the teen with sports glasses across the field. As Rei was talking to Miyuki, her glasses hid a calculative gaze. Sawamura could clearly make out the words between the two. Reading lips was one thing he excelled at the most in the Academy. With an impressive score of 98% accuracy lip reading from up to 52 ft away, the brunet agent was used plenty of times on intel missions.
"Miyuki-san, do yourself a favor and pay attention" Rei told him, her left hand resting on her hip," Cause that kid can throw an interesting pitch."
Kazuya definitely looked intrigued by that information. Unlike Sawamura, he was excited to have a new puzzle to solve.
"But he doesn't know his own true strength," she continued. "Do you think that you can bring that out the potential within him?" she asked.
Miyuki forced himself not to get too hyped about this. If anything he didn't want to overestimate this new pitcher. This kid who dared to step up to Azuma, barely looked a day over 14 and had an interesting look of determination in his eyes. He glanced at the brunet from across the field who was stretching his right arm over his left, and looking a bit nervous.
The catcher gave Ms. Takashima a curt nod. Whatever the boy threw from the mound he would draw out the best pitches, the daring kid had to offer, after all that was the catcher's job.